My Retail Reality: A Case of Caffeine....

As I sit comfortably at home, far from the world of retail.... enjoying my new less stressful job, I think back on those I have worked with and the fact that retail sales workers and caffeine go hand in hand.
When I worked in banking the caffeine of choice was coffee.  We had coffee breaks with yummy deserts and coffee at home after the day was done.   My first job in banking I actually worked with my mom.  It was fun to go home and sit and drink coffee with her, until I realized that it caused my sleepless nights.  That was when I stopped.
In my more recent retail experiences I've watched the drinking habits of fellow employees, and found soda is the new caffeine of choice.

It also seems to me that the higher up you are the more you consume.  The top supervisors tend to have cases stored away in their office, while the hourly worker just puts their extra change in the vending machine each break.  It is a sad site to see when that vending machine does not give out the desired caffeine fix.  And worse yet is when it takes your money and nothing is given out at all.

My Soda of choice was Pepsi, but I have finally kicked the habit.  It is hard when working strange shifts to give up caffeine.  It seems that you need that extra energy. In retail you don't usually have the same shift each day.  Often I would work a morning shift one day and a night shift the next, it can really cause your sleep cycle issues.

  I know there were times when I must have looked so tired and pathetic from my constant struggle to give up soda, that those around me pitched in to buy me a Pepsi.  My first year of working in a large retail store was the worst diet wise.  My main food source was the chip vending machine and the soda vending machine.  After breaking this awful cycle of soda and chips I actually feel so much better.

And what do the top supervisors drink?  You got it.  The super energy drinks, plus coffee.  The stress of the top supervisors is not something I would ever want.  And why I am so glad for my new job as a genealogist assistant.  I now work in a quiet environment putting together the puzzle of someones family tree. No more running from one end of the store to the next solving problems.  No more trying to figure out how to keep a store clean when the customers out number you 20 to 1.  Now I have a quiet peaceful desk job!  But every now and then I think of the crazy days of retail and miss them.  Just a little.....  And every now and then I miss my case of caffeine. 

G.G.

Sorry I couldn't find any caffeine related comics.  Perhaps I could get my son to draw one someday. 

Please share your favorite retail caffeine story :)